This past weekend I went to Rimetea with a group of friends. Among the activities we did there, there was making bread It was so enjoyable and we made such a wonderful bread that I feel the need of giving you the recipe, especially since I know you can make this kind of bread at home – it’s really simple. You just need yeast, water, white flour, bran whole grain wheat flour, a bit of salt and an oven.
Put the flour on a board (for one large bread you need a cup of white flour and two cups of whole grain flour) in a loose circular shape. Make a small hole on top of the pile of flour, so that it looks like a volcano cone (from here you can make up a story, it would be fantastic to involve you children or grandchildren in the bread making process). In the hole add fresh yeast the size of a walnut (8-10 grams), three-four tablespoons of water and a bit of flour. Mix gently and wait for ten minutes, until the yeast becomes active and start swelling. You now have a yeast leaven.
Pour water over the leaven (for three cups of flour, add a cup, maybe a cup and a half of water), two pinches of salt and then start incorporating the water into the flour. Knead thoroughly, with ample movements, for at least ten minutes. A dough with more water will be denser, while a dough with less water will be fluffier, if you manage to knead it long enough (you will know you are done kneading when the dough comes off your fingers). In this stage, you can incorporate into the dough a handful of raw seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, flax) or diced olives.
After you finish kneading, put the ball of dough to rise, split it in the middle so it can rise and dust it with flour, so it doesn’t form a crust. After it doubles its volume, put it into the heated oven at 200 degrees Celsius. Reduce the temperature at 180 degrees and be patient for three quarters of an hour. Take the bread out of the oven and, if you want a softer crust, drizzle a bit of water over it and cover it with a clean towel.
This is our Rimetea bread.
Dense, with a taste of real bread, with a thick crust.
Sanda and I have established that we will repeat the exercise at the next culinary boot-camp over at Rimetea. Stay healthy!
P.S. I’ve discovered a blog on bread. It’s fun and informative and it’s worth visiting.
PPS: do you see the apple on the right, the one asking to be voted? He is getting his ass kicked by Cabral’s grapefruit. Are we giving up at the end of the race? Thank you very much.
Special thanks to
Oana Bodnariuc, Authorized Translator
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facebook.com/oana.bodnariuc